Scottish Executive

Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what contact it has had with Her Majesty’s Government’s Department of Health regarding the operation of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000.

Malcolm Chisholm: There have been discussions between the Executive and Department of Health about the impact which the EU Clinical Trials Directive (2001/20/EC) may have on the research provisions of part 5 of the act.

Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has been offered by Her Majesty’s Government’s Department of Health regarding the operation of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000.

Malcolm Chisholm: The subject matter of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 falls within devolved competence, and the Executive has therefore not received any advice from Department of Health.

Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will amend the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 to remove the requirement for GPs to make declarations on their patients’ ability to make personal decisions and, if so, what the timetable is for removing this requirement and what its position is on the statement in an article in Doctor on 10 July 2003 that there will be no requirement for GPs in England and Wales to make declarations on patients’ capacity to make personal decisions

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive’s consultation on the review of the code of practice that accompanies part 5 concluded on 30 June. We are currently analysing the responses. The Executive has also recently commissioned research into issues raised by the implementation of part 5. These exercises will be taken into account in any future review of the operation of part 5 of the act.

  The content of the draft Mental Incapacity Bill for England and Wales is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament, and lies within the responsibility of the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Agriculture and Fisheries Council

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take prior to the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council in December 2003 to ensure that the share of North Sea herring allocated to Divisions IVc and VIId is reduced to align with the distribution guide proportion recommended by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive will ensure that this matter is fully considered when the Commission's proposals for the 2004 Total Allowable Catches and Quotas regulation are put to the Council.

Airports

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any representations to Her Majesty's Government that any development of the Royal Air Force flying station near Leuchars as a commercial airport should support direct flights to and from Europe.

Nicol Stephen: The Executive supports direct flights between Scotland and the rest of Europe, but does not comment on specific initiatives or representations.

Diabetes

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1164 by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 July 2003, what percentage of diabetic patients received an annual cholesterol check-up in each of the last two years and what action is being taken to ensure that all such patients receive such a check-up.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Diabetes Survey is beginning to provide this information but the data are not yet fully robust. In the 2002 Survey almost 60% of those patients included in diabetes registers were reported to have received a cholesterol test within the last 15 months.

  The importance of regular cholesterol monitoring is recognised in the clinical standards for diabetes published by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. Reviewing services against these standards, along with the action being taken to improve clinical information and to establish a diabetes Managed Clinical Network in each board area are the essential steps to ensuring that all people with diabetes are monitored appropriately and that robust data are available in future.

Diabetes

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many diabetic patients were given statin treatment following an annual cholesterol test in each of the last two years.

Malcolm Chisholm: The requested data are not held centrally.

Diabetes

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost would be of providing all diabetic patients with an annual cholesterol test and subsequent statin treatment and what the annual cost is of NHS treatment for diabetics suffering from cardiac disease.

Malcolm Chisholm: The total cost of providing an annual cholesterol test and subsequent statin treatment all people with diabetes is not available.

  The Scottish Diabetes Framework estimated that treating people with diabetes accounts for some 5% of total NHSScotland costs. In financial year 2003-04, that would amount to some £335 million. It is not possible to identify separately an element relating to the treatment of those with diabetes who also have symptomatic cardiac disease.

Energy

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what role it plays in promoting the export of electricity and what percentage of the electricity generated in Scotland has been exported in each of the last four years.

Lewis Macdonald: The electricity industry is of considerable importance to Scotland and we keep closely in touch with the Department of Trade and Industry, the regulator Ofgem and Scottish generators to ensure that Scottish interests are fully taken into account in GB electricity trading arrangements. We are currently working with these bodies to develop new trading and transmission arrangements, which will help to remove the barriers that independent Scottish generators currently face in selling to the electricity market in the rest of Great Britain.

  19% of electricity generated in Scotland in 2000 and 18% of electricity generated in Scotland in 2001 was consumed elsewhere. Information in respect of other years is not currently available.

Fire Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its fire services bill.

Hugh Henry: A consultation paper containing our legislative proposals will be published in the autumn. We plan to introduce the bill early in 2004.

Health

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the incidence of endometriosis is per 1,000 of the female population.

Malcolm Chisholm: Over the ten years 1992-2001 there was an average (mean) of 1,240 new admissions per annum, to acute general NHS hospitals, in which a principal diagnosis of endometriosis was recorded. The crude rate per 1,000 female population aged 15 to 64 (which accounts for 99% of hospital in-patient and day case admissions) averaged (mean) 0.73 over this period.

Health

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many women have been treated for endometriosis in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS trust.

Malcolm Chisholm: The number of women for whom a diagnosis of endometriosis was recorded, discharged from general acute NHS hospitals in Scotland, in each of the financial years 1999-2000, 2000-01, and, provisionally, 2001-02 is recorded, by NHS board and NHS trust, as follows:

  Year End 31 March

  


NHS Board 
  

NHS Trust 
  

2000 
  

2001 
  

2002 (provisional) 
  



Argyll and Clyde (A and C) 
  

A and C Acute Hospital NHS Trust 
  

275 
  

245 
  

203 
  



Ayrshire and Arran (A and A) 
  

A and A Acute Hospital NHS Trust 
  

218 
  

210 
  

193 
  



A and A Primary Care Trust 
  

0 
  

1 
  

0 
  



Borders 
  

Borders General Hospital NHS Trust 
  

25 
  

19 
  

13 
  



Dumfries and Galloway (D and G) 
  

D and G Acute and Maternity Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

81 
  

63 
  

59 
  



Fife 
  

Fife Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

226 
  

281 
  

226 
  



Fife Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

2 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Forth Valley 
  

Forth Valley Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

100 
  

94 
  

115 
  



Glasgow 
  

North Glasgow University Hospitals Trust 
  

286 
  

268 
  

230 
  



South Glasgow University Hospitals Trust 
  

244 
  

284 
  

263 
  



Yorkhill NHS Trust 
  

0 
  

0 
  

1 
  



Grampian 
  

Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

333 
  

273 
  

312 
  



Highland 
  

Highland Acute Hospitals Trust 
  

137 
  

138 
  

119 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

151 
  

181 
  

165 
  



Lothian 
  

Lothian Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

12 
  

9 
  

6 
  



Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

210 
  

196 
  

144 
  



West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust 
  

154 
  

160 
  

129 
  



Fairmile Marie Cure Centre 
  

1 
  

1 
  

0 
  



Orkney 
  

Orkney Health Board Unit 
  

1 
  

4 
  

3 
  



Shetland 
  

Shetland Hospitals and Community Services Unit 
  

0 
  

3 
  

5 
  



Tayside 
  

Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

152 
  

152 
  

86 
  



Western Isles 
  

Western Isles Health Board Unit 
  

3 
  

0 
  

1 
  



Total 
  

2,611 
  

2,582 
  

2,273

Health

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what resources have been made available to address endometriosis.

Malcolm Chisholm: In NHS Scotland consultant gynaecologists deal with most cases of endometriosis. Consultants in acute general hospitals may refer severe cases to university or tertiary centres. In cases in which endometriosis is associated with infertility, women will usually be referred to one of the four tertiary centres for infertility treatment in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow or Dundee. These arrangements ensure access to clinical expertise. It is the responsibility of each NHS board to deploy the resources available to it to address the health care needs of its local population.

  For details of Executive funding for research into endometriosis please refer to the response to S2W-1558 on 13 August 2003.

Health

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive where it will provide additional resources to address endometriosis.

Malcolm Chisholm: It is the responsibility of each NHS board to deploy the resources available to it to address the health care needs of its local population. In 2003-04 every NHS board received an above inflation increase in unified budgets of between 7.4 and 8.9%.

Housing

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30144 by Ms Margaret Curran on 15 October 2002, whether, if it had the resources available within its budget, it would write off the capital housing debt of a local authority if the authority and its tenants, in light of local circumstances, decided not to transfer their housing stock.

Ms Margaret Curran: The latest estimate of council housing debt is around £2.3 billion. We do not believe it would be a responsible use of the Executive's budget to apply any additional resources that may be obtained to repay this debt.

Housing

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30144 on 15 October 2002 , whether it will make representations to HM Treasury seeking the writing off of all capital housing debt of local authorities.

Ms Margaret Curran: No. As stipulated in the answer given to S1W-30144, HM Treasury has already made it clear that resources to deal with local authorities housing debt would only be made available following a housing stock transfer.

Ministerial Correspondence

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will reply to my letter of 12 June 2003 regarding my constituent, Mr G Stephen of Fraserburgh.

Ross Finnie: A reply to this letter was issued on Wednesday 30   July 2003.

NHS Pay

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-732 by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 June 2003, what steps will be taken to establish a mechanism for monitoring improvements in staffing levels following the agreement between NHS employers and trade unions to introduce the minimum pay rate.

Malcolm Chisholm: The agreement to introduce the minimum pay rate is between NHS employers and trade unions and it is for those parties to determine what monitoring arrangements should be put in place.

  I have asked the Management Side Chair of the Negotiating Group responsible for the agreement to confirm to you the current position on this matter.

Non-Domestic Rates

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-568 by Mr Andy Kerr on 12 June 2003, how much non-domestic rates income was received from public sector bodies and what proportion of total non-domestic rates income this represented in each of the last five years.

Tavish Scott: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-1102 on 3 July 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Schools

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the timetable is for a decision on the proposed closure of Craighead School by South Lanarkshire Council.

Peter Peacock: This is a matter for South Lanarkshire Council unless and until the proposed closure is referred to the Scottish ministers.

Scottish Executive Consultation

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how, and with whom, it will undertake informal consultation during the summer recess before publishing a consultation paper on the establishment of a national correctional agency.

Cathy Jamieson: The informal consultation will involve local authority interests, relevant voluntary organisations and the relevant trades unions. Ministers will also be reviewing comparative information on the workings of criminal justice systems overseas and elsewhere within the United Kingdom.

Social Inclusion Partnerships

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-34129 by Ms Margaret Curran on 4 March 2003, whether every local authority now has a publicly available register of interests of social inclusion partnership board members.

Ms Margaret Curran: Of the 24 local authorities that act as grant recipient for Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIP), 22 have confirmed that registers of interests of SIP board members are available for public inspection. Renfrewshire and Perth and Kinross Councils have intimated that they are at an advanced stage in compiling registers of interest.

Teachers

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact its job-sizing exercise will have on promoted secondary teacher postholders.

Peter Peacock: The new job-sizing system has been implemented in accordance with the terms of the agreement A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century . The impact on management grades in schools is that job weights are now assessed on a range of factors, rather than on one factor only: school roll.

Teachers

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria were used in assessing the job-sizing exercise on promoted postholders in schools.

Peter Peacock: The final job sizing mechanism agreed by all three sides on the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers uses the following criteria to assess job-size, as set out in the Agreement A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century :

  school roll;

  management responsibilities – staff, finance, health and safety, welfare, pupils and resources;

  policy development and monitoring – development and delivery of policies and plans;

  external liaison – working with parents, carers, other professionals and external agencies, and

  whole school activities – participating in the whole school/authority wide activities.

Teachers

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what, representations it has received on the results of its job-sizing exercise on promoted postholders in schools.

Peter Peacock: To date, the Executive has received 20 letters from members of the public and 13 from MSPs making representations about the results job sizing exercise.

  The Executive also received the results of a postcard campaign organised by the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA), expressing concerns that the exercise benefits teachers in primary schools to the detriment of those in the secondary sector. We received approximately 1,300 postcards in total.

Teachers

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what appeals mechanisms exist in respect of its job-sizing exercise on promoted postholders in schools.

Peter Peacock: An appeals mechanism is in place to accommodate any failure to agree between postholders and line managers in completing the job-sizing questionnaire. Local authorities all have grievance procedures in place which individuals may pursue if they remain unsatisfied.

Teachers

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any concerns relating to its job-sizing exercise on promoted postholders in schools.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive is confident the new system of job-sizing management posts in schools offers very substantial advantages over the previous system, which was widely recognised as being archaic and unfair.

Teachers

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any anomalies in respect of guidance posts in its job-sizing exercise on promoted postholders.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive is not aware of any such anomalies. The range of duties undertaken by promoted postholders can be very wide. That is why no single criterion, such as pupil roll, can adequately judge the value of a post. The salary scale points identified for management posts under the job-sizing exercise is determined by the range of duties covered by these posts, reflecting the agreed contribution of factors such as school-roll, management responsibilities, policy development and monitoring, external liaison and whole school activities, as set out in the agreement A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century . We would therefore expect some differences between guidance posts in different schools.

Teachers

Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have qualified as home economics teachers in each year since 1997.

Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been accepted on teacher-training courses with home economics as the main subject in each year since 1997.

Peter Peacock: Information on the number of entrants and graduates in home economics in each year since 1997 is shown in the table:

  

 

1996-97 
  

1997-98 
  

1998-99 
  

1999-2000 
  

2000-01 
  

2001-02 
  

2002-03 
  



Entrants 
  

20 
  

15 
  

26 
  

23 
  

28 
  

27 
  

17 
  



Graduates 
  

18 
  

12 
  

24 
  

21 
  

27 
  

23 
  

14

Teachers

Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any local authority areas in which there are shortages of home economics teachers.

Peter Peacock: The table shows the local authorities that advised, as part of a Scottish Executive's twice yearly survey, they had vacancies at February 2003 in the subject of home economics:

  


Local Authority 
  

No. of Vacancies at February 2003 
  

Of which Number of Posts Vacant for More 
  than 3 Months 
  



Aberdeen City 
  

1 
  

1 
  



Eilean Siar 
  

0.4 
  

0.4 
  



Glasgow City 
  

1 
  

0 
  



Highland 
  

1 
  

0 
  



Orkney 
  

1 
  

0 
  



Perth and Kinross 
  

1 
  

0 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

0.6 
  

0.6 
  



Scotland Total (Headcount) 
  

7 
  

3 
  



  There is no evidence of a current shortage of home economic teachers in any local authority area. There were seven vacancies across Scotland at the time of this latest report by local authorities. This relatively low vacancy level was confirmed in April/May this year when local authorities reported vacancy information for the 2003-04 Induction scheme. Fifteen vacant posts were identified for the 2003-04 school session, which could not be filled by probationer teachers. This represents around 1.7% of the teaching complement.

  The Executive keeps vacancy information under review. Once ScotXed, the Executive led electronic data collection system, is making a full contribution to the teacher workforce planning exercise, better estimates of likely subject demand will be available. This will be reflected in guidance given to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council on the distribution of places among Initial Teacher Education courses.

Teachers

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that pay scales arising from job-sizing schemes under the McCrone settlement do not create promotion disincentives for teachers.

Peter Peacock: Pay scales for management grades in schools have not been affected by job-sizing. They remain as set out in the agreement: £31,299 to £40,401 for principal teachers; £35,500 to £69,300 for depute headteachers and headteachers; and the introduction of a new salary scale for chartered teachers, £29,601 to £35,199. These compare to the salary scale for classroom teachers of £18,000 to £28,707.

  The job-sizing exercise now allows values to be placed on specific management posts within schools. This contrasts with the previous system, where jobs were graded solely on the basis of school roll, resulting in one person department heads being paid identical sums to the heads of departments with large staffing and significant budgets.

  The flexibility job-sizing brings will mean local authorities can now design management structures to suit local circumstances in order to maintain and enhance the quality of education they provide.

  These changes to management levels are being introduced in parallel to the introduction of the new Chartered Teacher programme. In return for pursuing post graduate studies, considerable salary increases will be offered. In turn, this will increase the quality of education delivered in the classroom, and offer incentives for ambitious teachers to stay in teaching posts, rather than apply for management positions.

Tourism

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many bed-and-breakfast bookings have been made through visitscotland.com in 2003 to date, broken down by area tourist board area.

Mr Frank McAveety: This is a matter for visitscotland.com. The information is not held centrally.

Veterinary Medicine

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Her Majesty's Government and the National Farmers Union Scotland regarding the implementation of the proposed changes to the EU veterinary medicines directive (EC/2001/82).

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether implementation of the proposed changes to the EU veterinary medicines directive (EC/2001/82) will remove the right of farmers to use, without a veterinary prescription, any medicinal product obtained within Scotland and, if so, what the effect will be on animal welfare given current flexibility of the pharmacy and merchants’ list.

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken, or will take, to amend legislation to widen the prescription authorisation for veterinary medicines or to seek a derogation of article 67 of the EU veterinary medicines directive (EC/2001/82).

Ross Finnie: You will be aware that veterinary medicines legislation is a reserved issue. Notwithstanding this, where new policies would have implications for Scottish farmers, my officials bring these to the attention of colleagues in Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Veterinary Medicine Directorate to inform negotiations.

  As regards the prescription authorisation, the current position is that while the UK (supported by the Netherlands and Ireland), opposed the proposal for an Article 67 amendment, the existing prescription requirement has been retained by the Commission. However, there is possible flexibility in the form of an exemption list. This list has yet to be drawn up and we are awaiting the criteria that medicines will have to fulfil to be considered to be exempt. I understand that the UK intends to include as many PML (pharmacy and merchants’ list) products as possible on the exemption list.

Veterinary Medicine

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether implementation of the proposed changes to the EU veterinary medicines directive (EC/2001/82) will prevent the public from accessing pet medicines, such as worming tablets, through high street pet shops.

Ross Finnie: This is a reserved matter, however as the amendment to Directive 2001/82/EC relates to food producing animals it will not affect the accessibility through pet shops of certain veterinary medicinal products.

Veterinary Medicine

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has taken on whether it will be legal for the public to purchase, and use, veterinary products obtained in other European Union countries, such as France, where prescription practice differs.

Ross Finnie: Current legislation prohibits the administration, or import for the purpose of administration, to an animal of a veterinary medicinal product unless it is the subject of a marketing authorisation valid in the UK. There are no proposals to change the application of these provisions to members of the public.

Water Services

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the advice, documentation and reports given to ministers prior to its decision not to call in the decision to approve the water treatment plant at Milngavie.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Scottish ministers do not issue a detailed report of their assessment in circumstances such as this where they are not determining the planning application. Internal planning documents are exempt from disclosure under exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information as they include information relating to internal discussion and advice.

  The Scottish ministers are, of course, aware that there is a general presumption against development in the green belt. However, such development may be acceptable in special circumstances. In this case it was clear that there was a pressing need for a new water treatment works to improve the quality of drinking water supplied to the Greater Glasgow area in order to meet current regulatory standards.

  The Scottish ministers were aware that East Dunbartonshire Council received over 3,900 objections to the proposal. And they were also aware that the Council had received more than 3,300 letters supporting the development. Ministers may call-in a planning application where it is considered that a planning authority has failed to give full consideration to local objections. But a substantial volume of objections is not in itself sufficient grounds to call in an application. All other relevant issues must be taken into account, as they were in this case, and a balanced decision reached.